


Father's Day

by jynx



Category: Iron Man (Comic), Iron Man (Movies), Iron Man - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, tony stark is his own warning label
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-04
Updated: 2013-12-04
Packaged: 2018-01-03 10:26:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1069384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jynx/pseuds/jynx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony has a drink with his old man</p>
            </blockquote>





	Father's Day

Father's Day

Jaelawyn Noble [ Jaelawyn@gmail.com ] 

Disclaimer: Love 'em, dun own 'em.  
Warnings: angst? Character study  
Fandom: Marvel – Avengers  
Rating: PG  
Pairing/Character: Tony Stark, mentions of Steve Rogers/Tony Stark  
Archive: http://nobelia.5nxs.com ; http://blackfireink.livejournal.com  
Summary: Tony has a drink with his dad.  
Feedback: ‘m a whore for it.  
Beta: piratewilde, ellyr_in_ink  
Notation: Time line? What time line! Pssshaw, those silly things don't matter in the name of Tony and angst! And mostly this is just a character study of Tony and his relationship with his father. At least, how I see it happening.

~

There are certain days that Tony Stark sets aside for specific reasons. Some of them are traditions that the entire world goes through, and some of them are personal. He uses these moments in time to keep himself in check, to not become the cold, maniacal bastard that so many people assume he already is. 

Every Friday, the Avengers have movie night together. Steve usually drags him out of the lab and makes the Avengers all sit down together. Not many people can resist Captain America and a bowl of popcorn. Every third Thursday, he and Reed get together and play chess. It's a chance for both of them to talk science with someone else who understands the interest in physical cosmology and to relax away from other obligations. They don’t even play normal chess; they play with several boards, all at once. It is the best way to take an over extended mind and calm it down to work at the normal standard.

Every Tuesday, he takes Pepper and Happy out to lunch (so Pepper can see that yes, he does actually eat), and once a month he and Rhodey get together to shoot the shit. These days are important because the three of them are his family. The family he chose, besides the Avengers, and he tries to remind himself not to take any of them for granted; he fails miserably at it.

Then there are times when he has to remind himself of his actual family, his blood. He ignores Morgan as much as one can, and thanks whoever create holidays that there is no “Cousin's Day” because then he might need to actually acknowledge the sleaze. On Mother's Day, he goes to his mother's grave and brings her flowers, the best he can find, and he makes sure her grave site is properly cared for. On Father's Day, Tony buys a bottle of Johnny Walker Red and goes to his father's grave.

Before he stopped drinking, he'd go drink for drink with the old man, pouring his father's share on his grave stone or the grass above him. Usually this was his attempt to show the jackass exactly how much better he was than him. Sometimes Rhodey or Happy would come pick him up, if he was drunk enough. Once he started swearing and shouting at the grave stone, it was usually a sign that he should leave. 

After he stopped drinking, it became a little more problematic to keep up with that tradition. He ignored it for the first two years, preferring not to deal with his father, or even the memory of him. Some of Tony's worst habits came from Howard, and he is man enough to admit it. The drinking, the “love them and leave them” mentality Tony had when he was younger (before the Avengers), the single-minded determination that sometimes is more of a curse than a blessing – the list goes on, but Tony feels those are the top three. 

Howard might have loved Maria at first, but before Tony's third birthday the shine had worn off. Maria ceased to be Howard's love of his life and became nothing more than a trophy, an example of his power, wealth, and social standing. Howard hadn't bothered to try and hide the other women from anyone, least of all his family. He had a new girl in his bed almost every week, though they never went to any of the upper social functions where the real power was. That was Maria's right, and she fought for it. 

Howard was an asshole. There were no two ways about it, that's just how he was.

You can hate your family, Tony figured, but you could never ignore them. Even though he stopped drinking, he still bought his father a bottle of Johnny Walker Red (only much smaller) and visited his grave. He would twist off the cap to the half pint bottle of scotch and upend it on the grave stone. Sometimes there would be a more controlled outburst than before, but more often than not, there would be silence as he stared at the stone.

Today, though, was different. He bought the scotch, like normal, and upended the bottle on the grave stone, like normal. Only, instead of silence or rage, Tony spoke to Howard.

“Happy father's day,” Tony said mildly, one hand in his pocket as the liquor gurgled its way out of the bottle. “World's greatest dad, blah-blah-blah.” He set the bottle on the top of the large stone and looked at it in silence for a long moment. “You're not worth it anymore. The anger, the hurt, the disappointment, I'm done with it all. Have a good afterlife, Howard.”

Tony gave the cold marble grave stone one last look before turning and walking away. He had better things to do than waste his day on someone who could never spare more than ten minutes at any given time for his son, and usually then to yell at him. He was dragging Steve out to an exhibit on World War Two tail art, and then hopefully dinner. Maybe that would be his new tradition.


End file.
